Ripple Effect
by dostle
Summary: Chapter 1 - An unexpected meeting sets the stage. Chapter 2 - Drabbles from After Ever-After.
1. How It Began

_Request from MG- Rapunzel and Merida being friends. It kind of spun out of control from there, because I am incapable of resisting the call of the crossover (or crackfic). Then I decided to polish it up and share, because the world needs more crossovers (and crackfics)._

_Technically not an AU, since this occurs before/after the respective movies._

* * *

Once upon a time, in the fair land of Corona, a young girl was watching her mother cook. The girl was curious, as Mother only cooked from the special pot when she was in a bad mood, but the special pot always produced bright, shiny soups that made Mother happy again. On this particular occasion, the girl decided to help make the wonderful soups, so that she could make Mother happy. Unfortunately, her presence startled her mother, who then tripped on the girl's hair, knocking an entire shelf of ingredients into the pot, and the contents of the pot onto the girl.

There was a nauseating swirl of neon light, and the girl disappeared, Mother's screams of "NO! RAPUNZEL!" echoing after her.

Elsewhere, another young girl was hiding from her mother in the woods. She stomped the flowers and kicked the rocks on the path, but nothing changed-Mother still wanted her to come in and practice embroidery, no bows allowed. It was at the precise moment that the redheaded girl was considering giving up her pouting and going home when a threatening whorl of neon light swirled into existence as plot devices are wont to do. Blinded by the flash of light, the girl was suddenly and surprisingly squashed by a squealing mass of hair.

"YAAAAA- oh, oh dear, I'm so sorry, Mother always says I should be less clumsy! Who're you? I'm Rapunzel! I've never met another girl before, where's your tower?"

"Ehm, Merida." She paused as the blonde moved closer, squinting at - examining? - her thoughtfully. "Whyyyyy are you here?"

"Well, Mother was cooking, and I fell. Where ARE we? OH! What is that? Can I touch it? How do you use it? How did you get your hair so red? Why do you speak so weird? When-"

"Oi! I don't speak weird! And I was born with red hair, thanks!" Merida glared at this strange girl, who had taken it upon herself to stretch Merida's unruly curls out and watch them spring back into place with an utterly fascinated look painted across her face.

And so it was that after a rather strange start, the two young girls acted in the manner of young children everywhere and became fast friends. Of course, it was mainly through the insistence of the bubbly blonde one, because the slightly terrified, slightly amused red head decided it would be too much to fight such a force of nature- forest spirits should not be trifled with, so why should a sun spirit?

The two adventurers spent a wonderful afternoon in the woods together, the young Scottish princess teaching her new friend the art of the bow, and the excitable sun spirit (really, what else could she be?) returning the favor with ventriloquy and a few tricks of hide and seek.

Unfortunately, that evening as they were heading back to Merida's home, filled with equal amounts guilt surrounding their mothers and excitement about the new playmates, Mother poofed into the clearing. She took poor Rapunzel home, but not before erasing both girls' memories of the day and of a friend that could somehow understand.

From that day, neither girl could shake the feeling that something was vaguely missing, something that wasn't there before. Although this awareness abated with a changed fate and a fulfilled dream, the final happily ever after came several years later in a state visit by Corona to Scotland, where the princesses-now queens- reunited with much rejoicing.


	2. The Changes It Wrought

_There are also several ridiculous things that happened in this universe, related in varying amounts to the "plot" (haha, no. There is no plot.)_

* * *

"Blondie, why does your hair know how to shoot? Blondie? BLONDIE! Please stop sleep stalking me You Are Scary! Stop it n- AHHHH-" gasp "-HHHHH!" Grumbling and cursing, Flynn dragged a sopping wet Rapunzel to the shore of the small duck pond, and glared at the cozily lit, third floor window of the Snuggly Duckling. Honestly, her hair can wield a bow and arrow, and defenestrate her poor defenseless traveling companion, all while she was dead to the world for an afternoon nap. For what reason would she ever possibly be scared of thugs?

"Um, why are we in the pond? There are easier ways to wake me up, you know..."

Adding a bit more grumbling, Flynn Rider dragged Rapunzel back inside for what looked like the third round of "I've Got a Dream."

...At least the cupcakes were delicious.

* * *

Merida could always evade mother, since she could easily throw her voice to the other side of the room or even another corridor. In this way, she spent many years avoiding chores and lessons, and luckily, passed on the skill to her **charming, handsome** brothers to use for their own _nefarious_ purposes.

-from Memoirs of the Threefold King

* * *

"Did I ever tell you that I thought you were a sun spirit?"

"That's impressive-Corona's emblem is the sun! I thought you were scary, because your hair looked like snakes- I honestly thought that Medusa had found me and I was going to spend forever as a stone statue and never get to sing again and poor Paschal would be stuck with me and-"

"...I also entertained the thought you might've been a spirit of the babbling brooks of the forest."

Eugene, the only person to hear Merida over Rapunzel's stream of conscious, choked loudly and obviously in the middle of a state dinner. Merida's younger brothers were highly impressed, and spent the rest of the dinner trying to turn him (well, anyone actually) that same shade of purple.

* * *

The turning point for Merida was the day she reunited with her oldest friend Rapunzel, **who may or may not have been a spirit of the noonday sun or the babbling forest brooks**. The two kingdoms were united through an unparalleled peace treaty, and then connived, outsmarted, or just plain charmed the rest of the kingdoms to unite under their banner. They founded the Ruling Council of the Enchanted Lands, with representation for each magical realm as well as the nine human kingdoms of the world. There was much opposition to the kingdom ruled by the beast in the castle, but the sudden appearance of a strong-willed beauty that tamed his wilder nature (and broke the much speculated upon curse) crushed the majority of dissension.

The witches sent the leader of their coven but were turned away from the gathering; Goethel and the witch of the Scottish woods had turned the civilized gathering against magic users, and the two were struck from the memory and in the latter case the safety of the group. This ruling would not be revoked until a gathering of good and valiant witches and wizards, led by Sir Gryffindor and Lady Hufflepuff, assisted in the ultimate triumph in the Ogre Wars, with Merlin, an ambitious Enchantress, and an absent-minded fairy working a powerful, arcane spell to tame the dragon allies.

Unfortunately, the woodshop witch who tricked Merida in the famous events of her youth never quite forgot the slight on her honor, and Maleficent, as she was named, turned to the darker arts and would prey for many years on the quiet lands to the south. _Her two greatest allies were the sorcerer Jafar who had long ago fled eastwards, and the daughter of Poseidon, the terrifying Sea Witch Ursula_...

-from Memoirs of the Threefold King

* * *

One of the most terrifying events from the unification of the kingdoms was the introduction of a great warrior-queen, the honorable, formidable Fa Mulan. There were rumors that she had gained the throne by right of conquest, but neither she nor her general would confirm or deny this.

_Our only contact, a young fire elemental known only as Mushi, was called away on "family business" before we could speak to him._

After the arrival of Emperor Fa, we brothers would hide and watch from the roof of the stables as she practiced her swordplay every morning at dawn, followed by a large dog and, for some reason, several chickens. We would watch as her magnificently trained horse and exotic lizard would throw fruit in the air, as small as grapes, and she would slice them into tiny bits with one twirl of her deadly sword. It was awe-inspiring and completely, utterly terrifying.

One day, the roof gave in, and we fell at her feet in a pile of thatch, her sword pointed menacingly at our throats. By the time we felt able to come back and watch her morning practice, Merida, Rapunzel, and several of the other dignitaries had joined Mulan, laughing and joking and being utterly terrifying with the sword...

**The other redhead was part fish, I saw her in the ocean and she had a tail!**

Which is patently ridiculous, please forgive my brother his age is finally catching up to him.

In any case, we stopped watching after that. **Merida ALWAYS catches us, sooner or later.**

-from Memoirs of the Threefold King

* * *

Merida's twenty-fifth birthday was, quite possibly, the best party we've ever attended. Strange men accompanied our northern brothers, the clan of Odin. The quiet man, according to the man of red iron, could transform into a large green monster when sufficiently enraged- so we continually stole his food and refilled his wine all evening. He did, in fact, turn into a large green monster, who then cuddled the man of red iron like a much-loved pet.

**The MOST humorous part was Merida herself- as the lady of the hour, she partook in the festivities with abnormal glee, consuming with haste an amount extraordinary amount of Father's best mead... and spent the evening fawning over the man called Hawk's Eye and his "beautiful bow."**

_It was rather disturbing at the time._

There was one other who came with the strange men, a woman whose charms were as deadly as she- a female assassin of the highest distinction. After the quiet man became the green monster, we followed the dangerous woman all evening, and though my brothers will deny it, we woke up tied to the rafters, sans kilts, memories, and daggers.

**Psh,** **maybe the two of you remember nothing!**

-from Memoirs of the Threefold King

* * *

I began my journey west in the spring, when the winds are good for an ocean voyage. At length, I reached port in a hot, desert land where I joined company with a man whose strength knew no bounds. We journeyed through this sparsely vegetated country with little to no food, finding only the enormous bones of long dead, tusked beasts. After days of travel through what can only be called a graveyard, we eventually came within reach of the only visible landmark for miles. Upon our approach, a mysterious storm appeared, refreshing the land and our water supply not a moment too soon. Out of the rain, however, stalked a large cat- injured, but still dangerous to all appearances. It likely was a recent participant in several fights, one could deduce from his current ragged state and the curious scar over the eye. My companion chose this moment to deliver a quick and painless end to the cat, as one could see the muscles bunching in preparation for a deadly pounce. We continued on through the desert land and reached Agrabah without any other complications, as the rain had come to cool and wet the landscape.

The first, brutal half of this desert trek I will happily never return to, and any reminder of our trials in assisting in the defeat of the sorcerer-Djinn Jafar should be left in Agrabah, but in the heat of summer, I find I miss the rains down in Africa...

-from The Chronicles of Fa Mulan, Hero of China

* * *

It was during his travels in Carthage that Hercules met the Warrior Maiden Mulan, a fine companion and fierce fighter hailing from the farthest east. The most famous of their exploits took place in a coastal city, formerly a kingdom but now a part of the Guilder-Florin Empire. While staying with the soon-to-be king in his seaside palace, there appeared a young woman who had become the unwitting pawn of the great Sea Witch. The Witch had turned this young woman, daughter of the minor sea god Triton (who was himself a first cousin of Hercules), to human form. It was the Sea Witch's most successful plot to trap and enslave, respectively, Triton and his kingdom of merfolk. Only the combined power of Triton's loyal army by sea, and Hercules, Mulan, and Pegasus by air was the army of the sea witch defeated; Prince Eric defeated Ursula himself to save Triton's daughter Ariel, who he then entreated to become his queen. Their daughter, Melody, was the leading council member when the world-shaping decision to ban magic users from the governing body was overturned after the first ogre war; it is now believed that Melody's half-mer background imbued her with magic and that the family's protector Hercules had brought the satyr Philoctetes to teach her the magical arts at a young age, thereby avoiding the distrustful opinions most of the Enchanted Lands held for those who used magic.

-from Heroes who Changed the World

* * *

_Reference All The Things!_


End file.
